


The Fortress I Made of You

by muscatmusic18



Category: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV 2018)
Genre: Abortion, Discussion of Abortion, F/F, Fix-It, Post Part 3, Zelda helps Lilith with an abortion, and then they're stuck together to hash things out, induced miscarriage, nothing terribly graphic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:55:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28235016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muscatmusic18/pseuds/muscatmusic18
Summary: With Lucifer gone and Lilith back on the throne, her pregnancy is no longer needed to keep her alive, and she ends up at the Spellman's seeking help. In order to rid herself of the Dark Lord's spawn, her and Zelda will need to travel to a remote cabin to wait for the herbs to work, giving them plenty of time to discuss all of the baggage that lays between them, and, if they're lucky, come to an understanding (or maybe something more...)
Relationships: Zelda Spellman & Mary Wardwell | Madam Satan | Lilith, Zelda Spellman/Lilith, Zelda Spellman/Mary Wardwell | Madam Satan | Lilith
Comments: 43
Kudos: 64





	1. Oh, What is it Worth?

**Author's Note:**

> As I said in the tags, there isn't any graphic descriptions of abortions, but Lilith does attempt an abortion spell on herself (the act itself is not described) and then asks Zelda to help her have one. If this topic can be triggering or harmful to you, please take care of yourself. You matter, lovely.
> 
> I want to give a huge thank you to all my friends who have encouraged me and spent countless hours discussing this fic with me, but especially to TomorrowNeverCame (@its-a-goode-day on tumblr) for editing for me.

Zelda cursed as her jar of face cream dropped to the floor and rolled, coming to a stop underneath the vanity. She used a quick spell to retrieve it without standing, inspecting the glass for any chips before setting it back down a bit more forcefully than needed, but she couldn’t bring herself to care about the noise.

This was the first quiet night she’d had since Hilda’s resurrection, the duties of cleaning up her niece’s messes and rebuilding the coven proving to leave little personal time. She didn’t mind being busy, truly, but days consumed with crisis after crisis had worn her down to nothing but a pulsing headache.

First, there had been the splitting of the time continuum, a problem that had only gotten exponentially worse as the very fabric of the universe ripped itself to shreds. They’d managed to quickly restore the timelines with the time… egg – she still wasn’t sure what to call it – that her bastard of an ex-husband had found and abused, but then the Eldritch Terrors came, creating yet another apocalypse-like problem. Still, witches had prevailed and banished the Terrors, but then came the challenge of rebuilding the coven, not as the Church of Night, but as the Children of Hecate, the order that Zelda herself had founded. 

As if there weren’t enough problems with trying to write doctrines for a religion she knew nothing about, fixing the mess Faustus had made of the Academy, and tending to the few remaining members of her coven, warlocks from neighboring covens had been antagonizing her not only for switching deities but abandoning Hell altogether. They’d sent her nasty threats for turning her back on the Dark Lord and spread rumors all along the coast about the pagan High Priestess in Greendale, thinking they’d proved that women weren’t fit to run a coven. Those, however, had been the least of her worries. Warlocks were often more bark than bite, and as long as she had Sabrina out of the grasps of Lilith and Lucifer, she couldn’t care less about what was going on in Hell.

And now, after all that, she was free – for a night, at least. Ambrose was still relishing in his new-found freedom and had left for Asia for a week – promising, of course, to be back in a timely fashion to continue helping with classes at the Academy. Hilda and her beau were tucked in their bedroom with what Zelda assumed to be a sound-proofing spell (she’d never expected her sister to be one for an incubus’ talents, but the marks often seen on her neck proved her wrong), and Sabrina was off at a sleepover with friends under a witch’s oath to not cause any apocalypse-starting trouble. The children of the coven were safely in their beds at the Academy, as well as the few remaining adults, and Marie was…

Marie was back in New Orleans. Or at least, she assumed so; that’s where Marie was headed when she’d left the mortuary. They’d parted on amicable enough terms, Zelda using the excuse of not having the time to devote to a proper relationship, with the new religion and all. Marie had insisted she didn’t mind Zelda’s divided attention, saying they’d done just fine in the past month, but Zelda had continued through her various excuses until Marie had relented. She hadn’t argued any more but often gave Zelda looks as though she could see straight through her weak excuses and into the fear that sat in a corner of her heart, the fear of anything good in her life. Not that Zelda would ever admit to that fear. No, she was simply too busy. She was the leader of a coven, after all.

Hilda had chewed her out after Marie left, insisting that Zelda _had_ to call her and _beg_ her to come back, because she’d never find anyone better than Marie.

And she was probably right. But what was done, was done; it was all in the past, and in order to keep the coven above water, Zelda couldn’t ever look back. Only forward.

The whirl of fire in her mirror made her jump, spinning around in her chair, and the shock of who emerged from the flames froze her in place.

“Lilith?”

If she didn’t know better, she’d say Lilith looked sick. She was pale and sweating, her brow pinched in pain as she staggered. Catching herself on the bedpost, Lilith leaned heavily against it, and her hand came up to clutch her stomach, hunching over.

“Lilith?” Zelda repeated. “Why are you— what’s happening?”

Lilith barked out a noise, half laugh, half pain, and lifted her head, giving a wry smile. “I’m in need of your skills as a midwife, Ms. Spellman.”

“A _midwife_? Why? You’re obviously not in labor.”

Lilith raised an eyebrow in an attempt to look composed, even as she trembled with the effort of standing. “A midwife, especially one of your reputation, would attend to more than just the business of labor, yes?” 

Zelda pursed her lips at the woman’s tone but waited for Lilith to continue. When she didn’t, Zelda rolled her eyes. “Well, are you going to make me drag it out of you?”

“I…” Lilith paused, grimacing as she straightened, standing tall despite her obvious pain. “I attempted the abortifaciens spell. On myself.”

“You _what_?” Zelda growled, spurred into motion as she stood. “You, the first woman, were _reckless_ enough,” she stalked a few steps towards Lilith, eyes burning, “to try that idiotic, irresponsible spell — one that’s killed countless women because they, like you, were reckless enough to think they had the power—”

“I don’t need a lecture,” Lilith snapped, suddenly sitting on the bed as her knees gave out. “I just need you to…” she trailed off, head dropping to her chest as she began to sway.

Zelda rushed forward, catching Lilith just before she slid to the floor. She eased Lilith back on the bed, lifting her legs as she groped her neck for a pulse – still there, but much too fast. 

“Lilith?”

No response. Zelda lifted her eyelid and received a glare as Lilith weakly batted her hand away. “I’m still alive.”

“You won’t be for long if I can’t stop this spell,” she paused as a shudder visibly wracked Lilith’s body, and Zelda straightened abruptly. “I need to get Hilda. Between the two of us—”

Lilith suddenly grabbed her wrist, her grip surprisingly strong considering her state. “You save me alone, or you let me die.”

Zelda gaped; how could Lilith say such a thing? But then her eyes fluttered, and anything Zelda could have said flew out of her mind as Lilith’s grip loosened, hand slipping from her wrist and falling to the bed, limp and lifeless.

~~~~~~~~~

Lilith felt as though she’d been buried – and not just six feet deep, but underneath a mountain. She wondered briefly if she’d died, but she twitched a finger and found that it moved, so she must be alive. At least for now.

Mustering the energy, she opened her eyes and studied her surroundings. She was in a dimly lit bedroom – Zelda Spellman’s, she remembered. The witch must have saved her, then, since she was lying in her bed.

She let her eyes drift, wandering over the artwork on the walls, the dresser, the closet door, and finally to the chair beside the bed, with – speak of the woman – Zelda sitting in it. She was staring across the room at the vanity, expression unreadable, but she must have felt Lilith’s gaze on her, for she turned to look at her, studying her intently.

“You’re awake,” she noted in a surprisingly soft tone.

“Did you not expect me to be?”

Zelda’s eyes narrowed. “You went through a terrible ordeal. I wasn’t sure if you would.”

Lilith was silent, not knowing what response Zelda was looking for. Before the silence could stretch on, Zelda spoke again, her tone sharper than before.

“Why did you do it?”

Lilith was tempted to play dumb merely to get under the witch’s skin, but the sooner this conversation was over the better. “This pregnancy was nothing more than a power play. With Lucifer dead, the pawn isn’t needed anymore, so I decided to dispose of it.”

Zelda rolled her eyes. “I don’t care about your reasons behind it. I mean, why would you use such a dangerous spell – by yourself, might I add – when there are plenty of other ways to induce an abortion?” Fury flashed in Zelda’s eyes, and Lilith found herself mildly amused by how much the witch seemed to care. “Why wouldn’t you just come to me in the first place instead—”

“Why would I ever come to the very woman who left me to die by his hand?” Lilith snapped, her own fury suddenly growing at Zelda’s suggestion.

She thought something like regret passed over Zelda’s features, but she masked it too quickly for her to be sure. Instead, the redhead stuck out her chin, defiant. “Seems as though you ended up coming to me anyway.”

Lilith bared her teeth. “Don’t make me regret my decision.”

Zelda scoffed and looked away, taking a deep breath which was obviously meant to be calming. It didn’t work, seeing as the flush on her cheeks and neck didn’t go away, and there was a gleam in her eyes that reminded Lilith not so subtly of hellfire.

Silence stretched out between them again, and as fond as Lilith was of waiting games and battles of wills, she was eager to get out of this house and away from her former devotees. “Did it work, at least? The spell?”

Zelda turned her gaze on her again, staring for a long moment. “Not exactly. The only way to save you was to stop the spell prematurely, so it’s only partially completed. The fetus is dead, but not gone. It’s still inside you.”

Lilith was suddenly very aware that the tension in Zelda’s body was not just anger but exhaustion as well. There were creases around her eyes not normally there, an air about the woman that hinted at weariness, and Lilith realized the sheer amount of energy it would have taken to stop a spell such as the abortifaciens. She felt something akin to guilt at the thought of forcing the Spellman matriarch to give up nearly all her energy just to save her by herself, as Lilith had insisted, but pushed it aside. Call it payback for allowing her to be in this situation in the first place. Besides, Zelda was upright and awake; her magic couldn’t be _that_ drained.

And as for the matter at hand, there was a simple solution, as far as she could see. “Restart the spell.”

Zelda shook her head. “I can’t.”

Lilith sneered and fixed a glare on Zelda. “Are you really so petty that you won’t help a woman in your charge because of an argument?”

“It’s not that I won’t, I truly cannot restart the spell.”

“And why not?” Lilith asked shortly, not appreciating being toyed with.

Zelda sighed and drew a hand over her face, searching for a concise explanation. “The abortifaciens spell works by targeting the fetus, essentially dissolving it until there’s nothing left. This early in the pregnancy – you can’t be more than two months along – the fetus is intrinsically tied to you; it’s a part of you. So, when you cast the spell on yourself, you’re using your own magic to attack your own body, which turns into a vicious cycle of the body eating away at itself until you die.”

“None of that explains why you can’t restart the spell.”

Zelda gave her a sharp look. “I’m getting there. If someone else casts the abortifaciens spell on you, the body channeling the magic and the body carrying the fetus are separate, and, while it’ll be taxing on both parties, the spell will work. But you’ve been through the trauma of a self-induced abortifaciens – trauma I barely managed to save you from. Your body is too weak to handle the spell. If I cast it on you,” Zelda paused, taking a deep breath, “it _will_ kill you.”

That gave Lilith a pause. She was all for taking risks, but she wouldn’t do anything that was guaranteed to end badly. And after sacrificing her pride just to ask the Spellman witch to save her, she wasn’t going to have the woman kill her all in the same day. 

Lilith gave a small nod. “So, what happens now?”

“There are other ways to perform an abortion.” Zelda shot her a glare, yet again making her feelings on the subject well known. “I believe herbs will be best in this case. Your body is too weak to handle anything else.”

Lilith rolled her eyes but didn’t snip back. “Alright. Give them to me, and then I can be out of your life,” she spat the words, attempting to sit up, but Zelda guided her back down just as her head began to spin.

“Herbs don’t work like that – it takes many doses spread out over a period of time, even up to a week, to induce a miscarriage.”

“Then give me the doses I need and let me go. I promise I’ll take them as directed.” She attempted to sit up again, more determined this time, but Zelda pushed her back again, this time holding her down with a hand on her shoulder.

“I don’t think you understand how this works.” Zelda’s eyes were hard, her voice sharp. “Herbs are dicey at best and deadly at worst, I can’t in good conscience give them to you and let you walk away. I’ll need to monitor you the entire time you’re taking them, as well as throughout the cycle they’ll induce.”

Lilith froze. “What does that mean?”

Zelda made a face, something between a smirk and a grimace. “It means we’ll be seeing quite a bit of each other the next couple of weeks.”

Lilith’s head spun, and she closed her eyes, not wanting to believe the words. _Weeks_? After she’d been abandoned by her coven and her _own_ High Priestess, she’d vowed to never see a single one of them again, and now she was expected to spend _weeks_ with the very woman who’d left her to Lucifer’s wrath?

No, this wouldn’t do. There had to be another way, something that didn’t involve spending weeks alone with Zelda Spellman — and damn her to heaven, she’d find it by herself if she had to.

Lilith heard Zelda stand and walk to the other side of the room, so she took the opportunity to sit up again, managing to swing her legs over the side of the bed before the dizziness hit her. She dropped her head to her hands, waiting for the spell to pass, but it merely worsened, so much so that she barely noticed herself being maneuvered back into bed, cool hands pushing at her shoulders and lifting her legs.

“Stay down,” Zelda growled. “I won’t have you cracking your head open and dying right after I saved you.”

Lilith wanted to argue, about _everything_ , but knew she couldn’t. Bright spots of color swirled behind her eyelids, and even laying down with her eyes closed, she felt like she might be sick. She heard the chair creak as Zelda sat down again, apparently intent on monitoring her every move. 

Though her mouth and throat felt as though they were stuffed with cotton, she managed to speak after a few swallows. “If we’re to do this, all I ask is that we go somewhere private. I don’t need everyone knowing about my condition.”

Zelda was quiet, and Lilith seethed at the thought that the witch might refuse her one request for dignity.

“Alright,” Zelda answered, her voice neutral, but not unkind. “Do you have a place in mind?”

Lilith cracked an eye, surprised, but promptly closed it. “I do.”

“And is it safe for me?”

Lilith bristled, but if their roles were switched, she’d probably ask the same thing. “It is. I swear on my throne.”

Zelda didn’t answer, which Lilith took to mean she was satisfied. Or maybe not satisfied, but at least appeased enough to stop asking questions. Whichever it was, Lilith didn’t really care.

~~~~~~~~~

She wasn’t sure when she’d drifted off, but when she awoke Zelda was standing at her dresser, methodically placing blouses into a carpetbag. Lilith watched her pack, getting a certain voyeuristic pleasure out of watching the ordeal, like the secrets of Zelda’s psyche could come from the way she organized her clothing.

“You should be strong enough to travel,” Zelda stated, seeming to have sensed her gaze as she moved to the closet. “You can rest more when we get to wherever we’re going. You need to start the herbs as soon as possible, and I’d like to be settled before you do.”

Zelda flicked through her dresses, pulling out four in varying shades of black and navy before carefully folding them and setting them in her bag. With a click of her fingers, the bag snapped shut, and Lilith wondered how much bigger it was on the inside. At least triple, given her penchant for clothing.

“We’ll leave in a moment,” Zelda announced, turning for the door.

“Where are you going?” Lilith asked, and promptly bit her tongue. She hadn’t meant to sound so curious about Zelda’s affairs and hoped her tone would come off as sounding impatient.

It did. Zelda whirled towards her, fixing her with a glare. “I’m going to tell my family I’ll be gone for a time,” she snapped. “Some of us like to keep those we care about informed of our plans.”

The barb was lost in the wave of dismay rising in Lilith’s throat. “Are you going to tell them? About me?”

She heard Zelda sigh and the sound of fabric being smoothed by nervous hands. “No. I’ll make up an excuse. They won’t ever have to know.”

Zelda turned and left, leaving Lilith alone, her head spinning with the witch’s quick turn of emotions. From hot-headed to sympathetic to furious, Zelda could turn on a dime almost faster than she herself could, and both were too stubborn to back down first, leaving them to run circles around each other until only one was left standing. She’d driven herself mad before, trying to read every twitch of Zelda’s lips, every blink — and that was when they were on better terms. Now… _everything_ lay shattered between them, and neither seemed inclined to begin repairing the mess.

_Weeks_. How was she going to survive?

~~~~~~~~~

After a brief conversation with Hilda that she kept intentionally vague, much to her sister’s frustration, Zelda retrieved her medical bag from the embalming room and returned to her bedroom to find Lilith sitting on the edge of the bed. She looked a bit unsteady, as expected for a woman coming back from the brink of death, but otherwise alright.

Tucking her medical bag underneath her arm, Zelda strode over to her suitcase. “Are you ready?” she asked.

Lilith made a noise which Zelda assumed to be a yes, so she held out her hand to the woman. “Where are we going?”

Lilith stood slowly, keeping a hand on the bedpost to steady herself. “I’ll transport us there. It’ll be easier that way.”

Dropping her hand before Lilith could grab it, Zelda stared at her. “I said you’d be strong enough to travel, not strong enough to teleport us yourself. You shouldn’t be expending that kind of energy right now unless you want to end up in the state you were in less than—”

Lilith pinched her lips in displeasure. Before Zelda could utter another word, the woman grabbed her arm, and together they were engulfed in a whirl of fire.

The flames were blinding, and Zelda shut her eyes against them as the hot air stole all the breath from her lungs, making her chest feel hollow. Combined with the sinking feeling in her stomach unique to teleportation, she felt like her body might collapse in on itself, leaving her nothing but a speck to be flung across whatever realms they were traveling through.

Her feet hit the ground at the same moment rain began to pelt her face, and she gasped in a breath of cold air that hurt her chest. She opened her eyes and blinked the water out of them, seeing nothing. Her mind went to the worst – had something happened to her eyesight? But then a flash of lightning illuminated the world, only for it to fall into blackness again before she could see anything. In the dark of night, there was nothing more than the sound of rain and thunder and the dull roar of what she thought might be waves crashing against rocks.

_Where were they?_

She turned to Lilith, who at that moment slumped against her. “ _Fuck_ ,” she hissed, juggling her luggage until she could wrap an arm around Lilith – she told her not to waste her energy. “Lilith?” she yelled, hoping she could hear her over the din.

“I’m fine,” Lilith replied, and she did seem to be getting her legs back underneath her, albeit still leaning on Zelda for support. 

Shifting her weight, Zelda stared out into the rain, but could barely see ten feet into the dark, and found no discernable landscape that might indicate where they were – or any shelter, for that matter.

“Where are we?”

Lilith leaned close, speaking into her ear in order to be heard. “Scotland.”

Her breath ghosted the shell of Zelda’s ear, and she shivered, momentarily missing the heat of the whirlwind of fire. Scotland? Why? What could possibly be here?

“ _Where_ ,” Zelda stressed, annoyance growing as she felt a steady stream of rain slide down her back, “are we meant to stay, exactly?”

Lilith nodded to her right. “Cabin.”

Zelda squinted into the darkness, about to make a sharp comment about not being able to _find_ the cabin if it was even there when lightning flashed again and sure enough, there it was, about thirty paces from them.

She sighed; she thought the Mother of Demons would have been able to teleport them _inside_ the cabin. Hoisting her bags, Zelda tightened her grip on Lilith and pulled her forwards towards the cottage.


	2. Some Things Never Sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exhaustion and curiosity loosening her tongue, she spoke. “It was your master’s spawn, I’m assuming.”
> 
> Lilith gave a small hum, like she hadn’t noticed Zelda’s harsh tone. “Fucked your husband to get it.”
> 
> Zelda hissed. “He’s not my husband.”
> 
> “He’s not my master."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2! I'm going to try and stick to a regular posting schedule, but as I'll be going to back university soon, I may not be able to stick to it for long.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who left comments and kudos! Every single one of them made me squeal and grin for hours :)
> 
> And a huge thank you to my lovely friend TomorrowNeverCame (@its-a-goode-day on tumblr) for editing and fangirling over this chapter.

About fifteen paces from the cottage, Zelda felt a wave of magic wash over her. _Wards_ , she thought, and then wondered why such a remote and unassuming place like this one would need wards. Was the place even Lilith’s? It must be, since they got through the barrier without any trouble, but that begged the question: what was Lilith hiding here if she needed wards?

They reached the front door, and before Zelda could react, Lilith waved her hand, the door unlocking and swinging open as Lilith sagged even more from her use of magic.

“I could have done that,” Zelda scoffed.

“No, you couldn’t have.”

Zelda hissed at the insult, about to defend her competency, but Lilith continued before she could start. “The door is sealed with blood magic – only I can open it.”

“That’s a bit excessive.”

Zelda felt Lilith shrug against her. “I’m a private person.”

They crossed the threshold, and Zelda was surprised when the lights came on, as though responding to their presence, to reveal a small but surprisingly modern cottage. Perhaps modern was the wrong word, as most of the furnishings seemed to be from the nineteenth century, but there was electricity, and Zelda could see a stove and refrigerator in the small kitchen.

To her right there was a small sitting room centered around a fireplace, and with her arms growing tired from holding Lilith up, Zelda guided her towards it. She came willingly, though she did shrug Zelda off as they got closer. Staggering the last two steps alone, she collapsed into the closest armchair, and Zelda rolled her eyes at the woman’s stubbornness.

Zelda carefully set down her bags and turned towards the fireplace, lighting it up in brilliant flames with a gesture. She waved a hand down her body next, sighing as her clothes became dry once more, and then looked at Lilith, doing the same to her clothing. The woman barely moved as she was magicked dry, not even arguing about being taken care of. Zelda furrowed her brows, worried that Lilith might have truly pushed her body too far, and reached out to touch her forehead. It wasn’t hot, so she moved to feel her pulse, but Lilith batted her hand away, opening one eye to glare at her. She sat forward in her chair as though to prove she was fine, though her shoulders sagged, weariness drawn in every line of her body.

Anger inexplicably swelled in Zelda’s chest – for Hecate’s sake, Lilith wasn’t the _only_ one who was tired. She knew she should be more sympathetic; she’d nearly lost Lilith just a short time ago, but _she_ was the one who had saved her, the Three-in-One bless her, expending most of her energy in the process. Zelda wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed – her _own_ bed – with a glass of whiskey and a book to read until she fell asleep. Instead, she was halfway across the world in a remote, goddess-forsaken cabin, trapped during a torrential storm with a woman she despised and unsure of how long she’d have to be away from home.

Lilith drew a hand over her face before leaning back in the chair again, eyes closed, and Zelda felt a pang of guilt slice through the fury. It was irrational to be angry at Lilith’s weakened state and unfair of her to expect Lilith to control her exhaustion. Taking a deep breath, Zelda held it and counted to ten, trying some silly exercise to abate her anger. She was aware that Lilith’s exhaustion was not the source of her rage, just something to lash out against, but that didn’t make it any easier to control the fire in her blood, even as she exhaled.

Choosing to distract herself by looking around the cabin more carefully, Zelda realized with a start that it reminded her of the little she’d seen of Mary Wardwell’s cottage. It made her wonder if Lilith had redecorated while she was there, or if the women simply had similar styles. There were bookshelves lining the walls, and the décor was dark and dramatic, but there was a power in this place not present at Wardwell’s cottage — something ancient and wild and so potent that she could almost feel it brushing against her skin, the air nearly dripping with it.

“What is this place?”

Lilith was quiet a moment, like she was carefully choosing her words. “A… sanctuary of sorts.”

Lightning flashed outside, and Zelda swore the shadows of the furniture looked bigger than they should have. “You seem to have a penchant for dreary, secluded places,” she murmured, feeling suddenly unnerved.

Lilith clearly heard her, but she was silent for a while before responding. “My magic is stronger here,” she stated, as though it explained everything.

Zelda waited for an elaboration, and when none came, she rolled her eyes. “Where will I be sleeping?” she asked instead, turning to grab her luggage.

Lilith gestured vaguely behind her without bothering to open her eyes. “Second door on the right.”

The room in question was decent, considering where they were, with a full-sized bed, a dresser, and a small vanity. Setting her bags on the bed, Zelda opened the door nearest to her and found a small but clean bathroom. She found a set of towels underneath the sink and set them out for herself before returning to the bedroom. Behind the next door was an empty closet complete with hangers, and she set to work on unpacking, inspecting each article of clothing for water damage before hanging it and setting her carpet bag to dry, not having the energy to dry it herself. Clothes done, she stepped back into the center of the room, looking around again.

On the wall opposite from the bed was another door she hadn’t yet opened, and for the life of her she couldn’t figure out where it might lead. Curiosity soon got the best of her, and she crept towards it, opening it slowly like a child afraid to get caught sneaking food after midnight. She poked her head in, surprised to find another bedroom – _Lilith’s_ , she realized as she looked around, and felt a flash of annoyance upon seeing that this room was bigger than hers.

Zelda took a step inside, unable to stop herself. It didn’t look that lived in: the bed was perfectly made, and the room was sparse, but what was there was perfectly placed, nothing scattered about haphazardly. Lilith must not come here often, she thought, but there _were_ possessions of hers around – a pair of shoes next to the dresser, a book on the bedside table, and various lipsticks and perfumes lined up neatly on the vanity. Why would she keep belongings here if she rarely came?

_What was this place?_

It wasn’t until Zelda was standing in the middle of Lilith’s room that she realized just how much she was intruding. Quickly retreating, she closed the door between their rooms quietly in case Lilith was listening and turned back to her belongings, trying to forget the questions burning in her mind.

She stood at the end of her bed, pulling on her fingers and trying to think of anything else she needed to do to settle herself in, when she realized she was _stalling_. How _childish_ , not wanting to leave her room because Lilith was out there. She didn’t like the woman, that was true, but it was no reason to avoid her by hiding, especially when she had a duty as a midwife to perform. Only cowards hid from uncomfortable situations, and Zelda Spellman was _not_ a coward.

Huffing at her own petulance, Zelda smoothed her skirt and opened her medical bag, grabbing the herbs she needed before making her way to the kitchen. There was a kettle already on the stove, so she filled it and lit the pilot light, then busied herself measuring out the herbs and placing them in an infuser.

Finishing just as the kettle whistled, she removed it from the burner before rummaging for the cabinets for a teacup. Her nose wrinkled as she poured hot water over the herb mixture, its acrid scent hitting her strongly – if she had anything to be happy about in the moment, it was that she wasn’t the one who had to drink this tea.

Once it had finished steeping, she brought the cup over to Lilith, who looked better than she had. Perhaps not as healthy as usual, but her eyes were open, and she sat up easily to take the cup from Zelda.

Lilith brought the cup close to blow on it, but then her brow and nose wrinkled, and she moved it further away. “What’s in this?”

“Dong Quai and blue cohosh to stimulate contractions of the uterus, and black cohosh to soften the cervix.” Lilith just stared at her, so Zelda gave a small shrug. “They won’t taste any better than they smell, but they’re the most effective I have.”

She sat in the armchair next to Lilith’s and watched out of the corner of her eye as she brought the cup to her mouth again, taking a small sip. To her credit, her expression didn’t change as she tasted the tea, but she did swallow hard, and she seemed to brace herself before taking another sip.

Zelda stared at the flames flickering before her for a lack of anything better to do, and despite her best efforts, found herself wondering about the circumstances around Lilith’s pregnancy. Neither her Sabrina nor the one who had been Queen of Hell for a time had mentioned anything about Lilith being pregnant, but the last month had been filled with far too many world-ending situations, all of which had been more pressing than one witch’s pregnancy. And besides that, Sabrina had never been one to notice the less obvious details of a person's situation, and Lilith was fond of her secrets – it’s possible she truly hadn’t known Lilith was with child.

Lilith had mentioned that the child had been nothing more than a pawn, but what game had she been playing? It had to be with Lucifer; he seemed the only one who scared her enough to go to such lengths, but… what had Lucifer wanted with her child?

Exhaustion and curiosity loosening her tongue, she spoke. “It was your master’s spawn, I’m assuming.”

Lilith gave a small hum, like she hadn’t noticed Zelda’s harsh tone. “Fucked your husband to get it.”

Zelda hissed. “He’s not my husband.”

“He’s not my master.”

Quiet settled over them again, this time filled with a tension that had Zelda stifling the urge to shift in her seat.

Finishing her tea, Lilith set the cup aside on the table between them, and Zelda sat up, grabbing the cup. “You’ll need to drink this every four hours in order for it to be effective. I suggest you charm something to alert you,” she noted as she stood. “I’m not your keeper, and I don’t need to be waking you in the middle of the night.”

“That won’t be necessary, as I’ll most likely be awake. Despite what you’ve seen tonight, I don’t need sleep like you do.”

Zelda paused, her brow furrowed as she stared at Lilith. “Then why do you have the bigger bedroom?” she blurted, and immediately bit her tongue for revealing that she’d seen Lilith’s room.

Lilith glared up at her, presumably to admonish Zelda for snooping. “Because I’m a greedy creature, Ms. Spellman, and that’s how the world works.”

Zelda rolled her eyes, not appreciating being treated like a child in need of lecturing. She strode into the kitchen, depositing the cup in the sink so that it rattled not-so-subtly before going back to her room. She didn’t slam the door, that would be childish, but the latch did snap quite satisfyingly into place.

The door closed, Zelda leaned back against it and let her shoulders slump for the first time since Lilith had shown up at the mortuary. It was late – or early, rather, now that they were in Scotland, and the faintly graying sky outside showed that dawn wasn’t far off. She desperately needed sleep, could feel fatigue pull at every muscle in her body, but her mind raced with the events of the past hours and burned with the questions they brought about.

She didn’t have time to address them; she needed to be up in four hours to make the tea for Lilith and desperately wanted every minute of sleep she could get. She tried to quiet her mind as she methodically dressed in a nightgown and applied lotion, but unwanted thoughts kept bubbling up through the calm she was trying to create.

How could Lilith’s magic be stronger here? As far as she knew, magic wasn’t tied to a location, so their position in the realms shouldn’t matter. But if Lilith’s magic was different, and her location _was_ important for its effectiveness, then where did it come from? And if Lilith had a different kind of magic, why was it kept a secret when the coven was defenseless just a mere month ago?

The last question made Zelda huff and abruptly stand from the small vanity, as though physically moving would rid her of the fear and anxiety welling up in her chest. She’d thought she’d found the right answer for the coven in turning to Hecate as their source of magic, but if there was a _different_ source, one that didn’t come from a god at all, then…

Zelda threw back the covers, lying down as she forced that thought from her head. She could _not_ spiral down that rabbit hole, now or ever.

Reaching over to the bedside table, Zelda picked up the smooth stone she had set there and brushed her thumb over it, whispering the incantation to alert her in four hours. She set it back down and clicked off the lamp before turning over and burrowing into the pillows.

She’d done the right thing for her coven. She was sure of it.

She _had_ to be sure of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm themoon-andher-love on tumblr; I've been asked about a tag list, so let me know if you'd like to be added to one on tumblr!

**Author's Note:**

> My CAOS blog on tumblr is themoon-andher-love, come say hello!


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